Salut d'Amour
by Thrushsong k'Varis
Summary: In which Hakuba, Kuroba, and Kudo have matching soul-marks. Unfortunately for the three of them, this fails to make anything less complicated.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: I started writing this with the idea of the three of them discovering they were soulmates during high school... and then Shinichi went, 'This is my backstory. You WILL write it.' and Saguru gave me a bunch of childhood scenes, so of course Kaito refused to be left out...

Long story short, in this chapter, the three of them are five.

* * *

When Kuroba Kaito's soul-mark appeared, he was thrilled. His mom had told him about soul-mates; how everyone had a mark that would appear sometime between their fifth and sixth birthday, and somewhere in the world, his soul-mate would have the exact same mark. People could have all different kinds of marks, but usually they were simple colored shapes. She hadn't told him that soul-marks could be _beautiful_. On Kaito's left wrist, there were three different colors: a golden brown color that somehow reminded him of warmth, a lovely blue color that reminded him of the sky, and a pretty purplish color his mother said was called indigo. However, his favorite part of the mark was the center, where all three colors curled around each other as if they were hugging. If his soul-mate was someone who gave him such a friendly and beautiful soul-mark, he couldn't wait to meet them!

~S~

Hakuba Saguru had waited eagerly for the day when his soulmark would appear. Baaya had told him that a person's soul-mark showed their relationship with their soul-mate. He had listened curiously to her descriptions of soul-marks. Baaya's own soul-mark was a small image of a yellow cake with green candles on top of her right foot. His parents had large matching dark blue flower bouquets on their shoulders (his mother had detailed the meaning of each flower at length when he asked to see it). He heard several stories from Baaya about people whose soul-marks were in the shape of an interest they had in common, or how some people had marks in which one shape was meant to be them and another shape was their partner.

When his own had appeared, Saguru had initially been confused to see that there were three colors, each forming its own distinct shape. In the middle was a large blue shape that was unfamiliar and swirly (he later found out from his father that it was a symbol used in music, and a quick search identified it as the treble clef). Near the top of the blue was a shape that was clearly a long-stemmed flower, despite the stem, leaf, and flower petals all being the same solid purple. When asked, his mother informed him that the shape was a rose; she then proceeded to tell him that he and his soul-mate were destined to meet in romantic situations (Saguru thought the situations she described would be more unlucky than romantic, but wisely kept it to himself). The instant Saguru had seen the final shape, he knew what it was. No one would ever convince him that the gold-colored shape was anything but an image of his grandfather's pocket-watch, complete with a long chain.

~S~

Kudo Shinichi was confused by the idea of soul-marks. When his mother had told him that someday he would find a person with a matching picture on their skin who would be his perfect match, he hadn't believed her. Deciding to like someone based on a matching mark seemed strange; like deciding to be friends because you both had a freckle on your nose. How was it possible for a picture on his wrist to know who he would be happy with? His mother said the power of love was magical, and that people with shared soul-marks would always love each other. Shinichi thought that Magic (if it existed) would be something like a force of nature. It wouldn't have thoughts or feelings that could understand which people would get along.

His father told him that some thought soul-marks were given to people by the gods so that they could find the person who was created to be their perfect match. Shinichi didn't think he liked that idea either, but it had made more sense than his mother's exclamations about the magical power of love. He wasn't really sure how his soul-mark would help him find a person: a flower, a curly blue shape that could be a ribbon or something else, and something round that might be a medal. Would he meet his soulmate at a flower competition? He still didn't understand how sharing a soul-mark would mean he loved the other person. In the end, Shinichi decided not to look for his soul-mate. After all, if soul-mates really are meant to be together and perfect for each other like his mother said, then he would meet them anyways, and like them even without knowing they're his soul-mate.

* * *

Salut d'Amour is a violin piece by Elgar, if you haven't heard it, go listen on Youtube, it's beautiful.


	2. Chapter 2

Warnings: Saguru's tutor is a prejudiced jerk, and this is understandably shocking to the eight-year old in question.

* * *

At age eight, Saguru accidentally reveals a theory about his soul-mark to his history tutor. He'll admit he probably shouldn't have been staring at the mark during his lesson, but Mr. Clarke's annoyed demand that he 'cease his juvenile daydreaming' was not polite either. He informs the man (and it's actually the truth, not a made-up excuse) that he had been wondering about historical cases of people having more than one soul-mate.

Mr. Clarke's initial response is not encouraging; he doesn't speak, but his face is getting increasingly redder, and Saguru worries his tutor might be having some sort of fit. He's not entirely incorrect, he discovers a moment later, when the man launches into a furious lecture.

"And who gave you the idea that these so-called _relationships_ are an appropriate topic for any kind of study? A soul-mating is a sacred bond between two people; that some chose to be so perverse as to lie about their bonding in order to satisfy their base desires disgusting. Those who chose to marry a person other than their soul-mate, the other half of their soul is bad enough, but to drag their soul-mate with them by adding to a _soul-mating_ is nothing short of despicable."

Mr. Clarke continues speaking, but Saguru cannot hear him over the strange ringing in his ears. He watches his tutor's mouth move, frozen in shock that his theory could inspire this much anger and disgust. Why would believing he had more than one soul-mate make him despicable? Saguru doesn't understand, but Mr. Clarke seems so angrily certain that it is hard for Saguru to ignore it. Do his parents think having more than one soul-mate is disgusting? Or worse, would Baaya agree as well?

Saguru is out the door before he even realizes he's running, tears streaming down his cheeks as he imagines disappointment and disgust on Baaya and his parents' faces. He runs through the manor, pelting out the first door to the outside he sees, ignoring the fact that he isn't wearing even a light coat and it's currently raining. The slippery grass forces him to slow lest he fall, and he finally reaches the wild garden, where he forces his way into the tallest, densest cluster of bushes before curling up and letting the sobs free.

~S~

Sometime later, the rain has trailed off into a light drizzle, his sobs have likewise trailed off into small sniffles, and Saguru is brought out of the haze of misery by Baaya's voice attempting to call him back inside. His voice is hoarse from crying, but he manages a cracked and raspy-sounding, "No."

Baaya's footsteps approach the bushes, and she tries again, "Saguru-botchama, you must be soaked through, come inside and warm up, dear."

"I don't want to go inside," he says shakily. Warmth is tempting, but Saguru balks at returning to the manor, unsure what Mr. Clarke would have done after he ran out of the lecture. Has everyone already been told what a disappointment he is? Will they hate him now, too? It seems like the only possible conclusion.

"Please come inside, botchama, your mother is worrying for you."

That causes his thoughts to halt in confusion. "She's not angry?"

"Not with you, botchama. She was, however, angry enough to fire Mr. Clarke and contact her entire circle of acquaintances to blacklist him."

Saguru blinks, and attempts to peer through the branches to determine Baaya's sincerity. When the bushes stubbornly resist his effort, he questions, "Mother fired him? Why?"

The response was deceptively mild, "I believe she took exception to his opinion that his religious beliefs were more important that your emotional state, botchama."

Mother was angry at his tutor for being angry? Saguru wasn't quite sure what that meant, but he was tentatively hopeful that maybe his parents did not in fact agree with Mr. Clarke.

"She doesn't think I'm disgusting for having more than one soulmate?"

"I should think not." Baaya almost sounded offended by the idea, "Now, wouldn't you like to come inside and hear her say it yourself?"

After a brief struggle, Saguru emerges from the dense bushes. When he gathers enough courage to hesitantly smile at Baaya, he almost starts crying again; she looks so happy and _relieved_ when she smiles back, even though his face is probably awful, his clothes are most likely ruined, and he'd run away from his (former) tutor. Baaya still loves him, and that knowledge manages to make the world seem a bit brighter.

* * *

A/N: I used botchama as Baaya's way of addressing Saguru (I think it's used in the anime), even though I picture this scene happening in England. They're a multilingual family so it's not that strange, right?

Next up will be Shinichi, and a bit of his friendship with Ran and Sonoko.


	3. Chapter 3

Warnings/notes: kids are cruel, shunning, this is not a happy chapter...also Shinichi is eight so he's still working out how to do this detective-ing business.

* * *

Shinchi is sitting alone at his desk when his teacher asks the class to help look for a missing toy (the T-Rex figure with moving jaw and tail that Yuuto-kun had been showing off to the other boys) during their break. It's the first year that he and Ran have been in different classes, and Sonoko (who barged her way into their friendship when they were six) isn't in a class with either of them. It hadn't been so bad at first, the three of them could still see each other at break or during lunch, but lately their teachers have been encouraging them to make friends with their new classmates…which isn't a problem for Ran and Sonoko, but they were the ones who made friends with _him _in the first place, and Shinichi doesn't really know how to make other people want to be his friend. Maybe if he finds the missing toy, Yuuto-kun and the other boys will be friends with him.

As the other students scatter to 'search' the playground, Shinichi pokes around the classroom instead, ignoring the teacher as she watches over the kids who still need to clean paint off of themselves. Eventually he finds the T-Rex shoved into a cabinet next to where the paints had been. Shinichi can see at a glance that the toy is broken—its lower jaw is laying a few centimeters away from the head, and the tail is bent oddly. He frowns and glances around the room, noticing that Yuuto-kun and his friend Hiro-kun are still inside. Closing the cabinet, Shinichi takes a deep breath and walks over to the other boys.

"Ano…Yuuto-kun?"

Both boys turn towards him and Yuuto asks, "What is it?"

Shinichi squashes his nerves and replies, "I think I found your dinosaur."

Yuuto looks excited as he asks, "Really? Where?"

Shinichi half-turns and points, "Over there—" and hurries to follow as his classmates run across the room.

When he catches up, Yuuto turns toward him looking confused, "I don't see it."

"It's in that cabinet. But, um, it looked kinda broken," Shinichi responds awkwardly.

Hiro opens the cabinet, and Shinichi fidgets awkwardly seeing how sad Yuuto looks seeing the broken toy. Not really knowing what to do, he ends up blurting out the first thing that comes to mind, "Maybe it was hidden because the last person to play with it didn't want you to be mad at them for breaking it?"

"You're wrong!" Shincihi steps back in alarm as Yuuto glares at him. "Hiro was the last one I let play with my T-Rex, and he gave it back fine! Hiro wouldn't do that!"

"I didn't mean—" Shinichi's attempt to explain is interrupted by Hiro.

"Yeah, I bet you're the one who broke it! Why else would you know that?"

"But—"

"You're just a liar! I bet you hid it so you could look cool by finding it!"

"I didn't!"

"Then prove it!" Hiro challenges; and Shinichi falters because he can't do that, he doesn't know who broke it yet, he needs more evidence; and he can't give an alibi because he doesn't know when the toy went missing—!

His classmates seem to take his silence as an admission of guilt, and glare harder.

"See! You can't deny it!" Yuuto proclaims, "What else did you lie about, huh? I bet you made up those cases you talk about helping with!"

"That's horrible!" adds Hiro, "No-one likes liars; your soulmate must hate having a lying fake detective like you as their match!"

Shinichi flinches and recoils, the words spinning through his head as his classmates push past him with the broken toy and stomp away. He doesn't quite understand why it hurts so much hearing his soulmate should hate him when he doesn't really believe in soulmates. Maybe it hurts because he'd wanted to make friends and was rejected?

Shinichi watches his classmates leave the room with a sinking feeling that he won't be making new friends anytime soon. Head down and wishing he knew how to make his classmates understand that he'd just wanted to help; he trudges away to spend the break in the school library. Maybe after school Sonoko and Ran will be able to tell him what went wrong.

~S~

After returning to class, it doesn't take Shinichi long to realize that his sinking feeling from earlier was more accurate than he'd thought. He might not have noticed—if the teacher hadn't put them in groups before giving them a math worksheet. Shinichi finishes quickly, as usual, but when he tries to ask the others if they want help, he is met with silence; the others at his table stare down at their worksheets as if he hadn't spoken. Anything he says or does is ignored, and with a glance around the classroom, he sees anyone who makes eye contact with him look away. It's made it clear what's going on as soon as he looks over at Hiro-kun; the other boy is looking at him with satisfaction, as if to say 'See? No one likes you'.

Shinichi can only look away, hating that he knows he can't do anything. Nothing he says now will make a difference, because his classmates will refuse to listen since they'll all think he's lying. Even if he does figure out how to prove who had broken the toy, no one will believe that he's right. Staring miserably at his desk, Shinichi wishes he hadn't gone looking for the missing toy; wondering for the first time if being a detective will really be worth it if solving cases causes things like this to happen. How many others will hate him for discovering that their friend or family member is a criminal? (In the back of his mind, he wonders if his soulmate will react like Hiro and Yuuto and hate him too.)

* * *

Um...hi? It's been a long time since I posted stuff for my chapter fics, but at least I've updated this one? I've been having a LOT of trouble getting actual words down on a page as functional story-telling recently...

I am determined to keep writing though, so the story will continue! Just...very slowly.

(If ya'll read my other fics I'm still planning to continue those as well.)

Anyways, thanks for reading!


End file.
